4 min readApr 10, 2026 12:23 PM IST First published on: Apr 10, 2026 at 12:23 PM ISTSensitive to allegations that it acts as the BJP’s “B-team” and helps it by splitting the Opposition’s Muslim votes, the Asaduddin Owaisi-led AIMIM appears to be responding to these accusations by contesting the coming West Bengal Assembly elections from constituencies that the Trinamool Congress (TMC) won comfortably last time.Positioning itself as the “M-team” in Bengal, Owaisi said the choice of 12 constituencies was deliberate. The AIMIM had tied up with former Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Humayun Kabir’s Aam Janata Unnayan Party (AJUP) but broke off the alliance on Friday, a day after a video emerged in which a person purported to be Kabir is seen talking bout receiving financial support from the BJP to contest the elections and erode the TMC’s minority votes.AdvertisementThe 12 constituencies where the AIMIM has put up candidates are Mothabari and Sujapur (Malda district); Suti, Raghunathganj, and Kandi (Murshidabad); Nalhati and Murarai (Birbhum); Asansol Uttar (Paschim Bardhaman); Habra, Barasat, and Basirhat South (North 24 Parganas); and Karandighi (Uttar Dinajpur). At least half of these seats fall in Murshidabad, Malda and Uttar Dinajpur districts, where high deletions were recorded during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. The constituencies of Suti and Raghunathganj are among the top 10 seats with the highest deletions during the adjudication phase, while Karandighi also saw 31,562 deletions.The AIMIM is likely to intensify efforts to mobilise Muslim voters whose names remain on the rolls in these areas. The party’s West Bengal in-charge Adil Hasan said the party chose the constituencies in Murshidabad and Malda based on their “proximity” to Bihar’s Seemanchal, a minority-dominated region, and the party’s relatively stronger organisational presence in Muslim-dominated regions in the border districts in central and north Bengal.Of these 12 seats, nine will go to the polls in the first phase on April 23, while the remaining three will vote in the second phase on April 29.AdvertisementRejecting allegations that the AIMIM was attempting to split Muslim votes to dent the TMC, Hasan said: “These seats have a mixed population of Hindus and Muslims. The party is contesting to represent minorities and marginalised sections. Many constituencies are close to Seemanchal.”Also Read | Owaisi’s AIMIM enters Bengal poll fray, says tied up with Humayun Kabir’s partyIn 2021, the average victory margin of the TMC in these 12 constituencies was 54,900 votes, a significant figure in Assembly elections. In Sujapur, the TMC defeated the Congress by 1.3 lakh votes, securing 73% of the vote share compared to the Congress’s 10.73%, while in Raghunathganj and Murarai, the TMC defeated the BJP by margins exceeding 98,000 votes.With a substantial Muslim population in these constituencies, the AIMIM sees an opportunity to position itself as an alternative political choice. Party leaders said they expect support from voters disillusioned with the major non-BJP parties.you may likeThis is not the AIMIM’s first foray in Bengal. It unsuccessfully contested six seats in Bengal in 2021, securing an average vote share of just 0.93%. All of its candidates lost their deposits. The party’s best performance came in Sagardighi in Murshidabad, where it secured 3,450 votes.In the aftermath of the protests in Malda last week against the deletion of voters, the TMC had accused the AIMIM of being involved in the demonstrations. One of the main accused is a lawyer, Mofakkerul Islam, who had contested the 2021 elections on an AIMIM ticket.In the other states where elections are being held, the AIMIM is supporting anti-BJP parties. It backed Badruddin Ajmal-led AIUDF in Assam and the DMK in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. In Kerala, it supported the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), a constituent of the Congress-led United Democratic Front. Party sources said the AIMIM chose not to contest in these states to avoid splitting Muslim votes. But back on the success in Bihar last year, when the party again won five seats in Seemanchal, it believes it has a chance to expand its footprint in Bengal.